Friday, July 17, 2009

Never too old for any efforts as long as you really work hard to achieve the goal. Why not, we still have ample time to follow this 70 year old Saudi man. A challenge to all pensioners out there. An excellent feat for his age (well, not like marrying much younger women...) and something to ponder upon!In Dubai since 2002, in an n unprecedented humanitarian gesture, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Patron of the Award, had issued his supreme directives to the effect that prison sentences handed down on Dubai prisons inmates be mitigated for any one who memorizes the Holy Quran or parts of it. This is based on His Highness belief that the book of God Almighty is the best guide to the proper human behavior regardless of the size or motive of the crime and to encourage this category of the community to memorize the Holy Quran.

Mitigated penalties:

A decision by the concerned authorities was issued calling for the mitigation of the sentence of the inmates males and females who can memorize the Holy Book as follows:

S.N.

Part Memorized

Equivalent Mitigated Sentence

1

Full Holy Quran

Twenty years

2

Twenty Parts

Fifteen years

3

Fifteen Parts

Ten years

4

Ten Parts

Five years

5

Five Parts

One year

6

Three parts

Six months

This gesture has actually transformed jails into educational institutions where inmates carry out Quranic activities that qualify them to become good members of the society.

The gesture was greatly applauded all categories of the society and many prominent figures expressed, through direct contacts and through media, their strong support for the gesture hoping that it will be followed and adopted by the Islamic countries.

Memorizing the Holy Book at 70

The love for the Holy Book and a determination to memorize it enabled a Saudi to overcome age and other barriers to fulfill a life’s ambition. Though he was above 70, Abdullah Muhammad Musa was able to memorize the Holy Qur’an and graduate with honors from the Qur’an Memorization Group for Adults at King Abdul Aziz Mosque here. He scored an average of 91 percent.

“When I was young, I memorized two chapters of the Holy Book but later forgot them completely, carried away by the cares of life,” Musa told Arab News. He, however, made it clear that his love for the Qur’an was always there and it was this love that pushed him to fulfill his dream at such an advanced age.

He joined the special courses being held at mosques during the evenings for old men. “This gave old people like me and employees a chance to learn the Book of Allah,” he said.

Musa said he began memorizing the Qur’an at King Abdul Aziz Mosque where he was able to learn 10 chapters by heart. “At first I faced great difficulty in pronunciation and Tajweed but was later able to overcome these problems,” he recalled.

He later joined the Qur’an memorization circle at Salah Karamah Mosque where he memorized all the 30 chapters of the Holy Book in two and a half years. “I used to memorize two to three pages every day during the day and in the evenings I would go to King Abdul Aziz Mosque to revise about two chapters of the Holy Book,” he said.

Musa said without the encouragement and assistance from his wife and sons his quest to learn the Qur’an would have been unfulfilled. Despite his age, Musa walked daily for about six km from his house to the two mosques where he studied the Qur’an.